Evercore ISI Boosts Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Price Target to $74.00

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) had its price target increased by Evercore ISI from $70.00 to $74.00 in a research report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an in-line rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut Equity Residential from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and increased their price target for the company from $69.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Mizuho increased their price target on Equity Residential from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Equity Residential from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. UBS Group increased their price target on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Equity Residential from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $72.16.

Equity Residential Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of Equity Residential stock opened at $74.88 on Wednesday. Equity Residential has a 12-month low of $52.57 and a 12-month high of $75.11. The stock has a market cap of $28.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.07, a P/E/G ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The business’s 50 day moving average is $70.10 and its 200-day moving average is $65.81.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by ($0.49). Equity Residential had a net margin of 32.83% and a return on equity of 8.53%. The business had revenue of $734.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $735.26 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Equity Residential will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Investors of record on Monday, July 1st were paid a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 1st. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equity Residential

In other Equity Residential news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total value of $439,141.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,576 shares in the company, valued at $1,006,910.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equity Residential

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in Equity Residential by 36.6% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 569,829 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $35,962,000 after purchasing an additional 152,736 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Equity Residential by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 146,587 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,965,000 after purchasing an additional 18,556 shares in the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its holdings in Equity Residential by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 165,650 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,131,000 after purchasing an additional 20,010 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Equity Residential by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 551,960 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $33,482,000 after acquiring an additional 27,171 shares during the period. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Equity Residential by 200.9% in the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 77,019 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,861,000 after acquiring an additional 51,423 shares during the period. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Equity Residential Company Profile

Equity Residential is committed to creating communities where people thrive. The Company, a member of the S&P 500, is focused on the acquisition, development and management of residential properties located in and around dynamic cities that attract affluent long-term renters. Equity Residential owns or has investments in 305 properties consisting of 80,683 apartment units, with an established presence in Boston, New York, Washington, DC, Seattle, San Francisco and Southern California, and an expanding presence in Denver, Atlanta, Dallas/Ft.